Shreveport Firm Seeks Backers for Video Game Project

A Gothic adventure video game is under development by Oscar-winning Moonbot Studios in Shreveport. Company officials have launched an online crowd-sourcing fundraiser through Kickstarter. They aim to raise $750,000, along with grassroots buzz from gamers. The game, “The Golem,” will be created entirely in-house by Moonbot’s 50 employees. At a Monday news conference, principal Brandon Oldenburg said the project was on the back burner for a couple years.

"Some of the best Kickstarters have already begun before they go to the public for money. For us, it kind of already has," Oldenburg said. "We've done a lot of internal brainstorming and conceptual design, and even 3-D work for what this story can be like. What's so great is what you do for the game, a lot of those assets are the same assets that you'd use in a film."

This will be the firm’s third video game, slated to be released in 2015. Over the next 48 days, Moonbot plans to post a series of promotional videos that will tell the story of Golem with a call to action.

"We cannot do a game of this scope without your help," Oldenburg said in its Kickstarter video pitch. "There are a lot of resources needed to make a game: artists, engineers, animators and funding," added Moonbot principal Lampton Enochs.

It’s set in the 16th century and based on a Jewish folk tale. Moonbot principal Bill Joyce said Kickstarter will be a kind of bellwether for Golem’s attractiveness for film and book deals. He likes the idea of making all decisions on it internally.

"We like to work fast, and we like to figure out inexpensive ways to do things because the technology is there to do things for less," Joyce said.

Joyce added that meetings are set up this week with potential investors for “The Golem” film project.

Marie Lovejoy / Foundation for Entertainment, Development and Education

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